Teaching Artists

Jon Adelman is a freelance writer/producer/shooter who has worked on a number of documentaries, informational videos, reality shows, network shows, PSA, and music videos. Clients have included NBC, Dreamworks, ESPN, Spike TV, Discovery Channel, TLC, National Geographic, HGTV, Retirement Living TV, and Network Solutions. Adelman has extensive experience in a variety of formats and has worked across the United States and on international shoots from Europe to Central and South America. Adelman...
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Susanne Coates is a cinematographer, video editor, web developer and active, independent filmmaker in the Washington, DC area. She has over 15 years of multimedia experience and over 10 years of experience creating video and web assets for clients. She currently works as a Drupal/PHP developer and Multimedia Specialist at the University of Maryland where she conducts both classroom- and field-based workshops to train personnel to use the software she creates. To see Susanne's portfolio and t...
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Sam Hampton co-founded Docs In Progress as a nonprofit organization in 2008 and served on its founding staff from 2009-2012. He was instrumental in developing the organization’s core curriculum of adult and youth educational programs and remains a key advisor and teaching artist for Docs In Progress classes. Sam balances his time between consulting with nonprofits through Hampton Consulting, and producing award-winning documentaries for the educational market. His films include My Mother’s...
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Sanja Marjanovic is a documentary filmmaker, cinematographer, editor and storyteller. She started actively exploring film through her involvement in Filmaktiv a non-profit organization in Croatia. She was part of the educational team and taught in more than a dozen classes. She graduated with a MA in Film Directing from the prestigious Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh. Sanja is passionate about helping other filmmakers develop their skills. She balances her time as a teacher...
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H. Paul Moon creates documentary portraits in music and visual art. He also creates lyrical films of cities, landscapes and contemporary dance. He teaches courses on documentary editing to emerging filmmakers, founded DocoFilm, and manages a network of online communities at FocusPulling to keep pace with newest camera technologies, lately virtual reality at VRcine. His body of work includes short and feature-length documentaries, dance films, and experimental cinema, regularly featured at fi...
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Adele Schmidt co-founded Docs In Progress in 2004 and served as part of its founding staff from 2009-2010, Adele was instrumental in helping the organization expand beyond its signature work-in-progress screenings to provide a full array of educational, professional development, and mentoring programs for emerging documentary filmmakers. In addition to more than 15 years working as a producer, director, editor, and consulting producer for award-winning long-form documentaries and short featu...
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Aqiyla Thomas is a documentary filmmaker, media educator and social worker who has an impassioned desire to use visual storytelling as a tool for social change and community empowerment, especially with our young people. With a bachelors in psychology and a masters degree in social work from UNC Chapel Hill, she was first inspired to use video production within her community engagement work in youth mentoring programs. After receiving additional graduate training in documentary filmmaking fr...
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Emily Wathen is a documentary filmmaker, photographer, and visual journalist. Emily specializes in crafting precise images and utilizing digital tools for effective storytelling. A graduate of Syracuse University and the Maryland Institute College of Art, Emily has a background in filmmaking, art and transmedia. Emily currently works as a Digital Journalist at the Environmental Working Group in Washington, DC. Read more about Emily and view her portfolio at emilywathen.com
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Yi Chen is an award winning filmmaker and her work has screened in film festivals around the world, including Beijing International Film Festival, Vancouver Asian Film Festival, DC Independent Film Festival, DC Shorts Film Festival, Virginia Film Festival, Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capitol, Screen Actors Guild Foundation Shorts Showcase and many more. She has produced and directed a 26-minute verity style documentary “Chinatown”—a story about the strength and struggles o...
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